Werner Herzog Narrated Short Film Plastic Bag

Plastic Bag is a new 18 minute short film written, directed and edited by Ramin Bahrani and narrated by Werner Herzog. It is released as part of FutureStates, a series of digital shorts that aim to show visions of the American Society in the not-too-distant future. Plastic Bag was recently shown at the SXSW festival and is also available online.

Although the idea of a short film about a plastic bag brought to mind this infamous scene from American Beauty, I can assure you that this short film has so much more to offer. I found the short to be strangely beautiful and affecting and appreciated the message at it’s core. Getting Werner Herzog to narrate the short was a wonderful choice. The voiceovers Herzog supplies for his documentaries, such as Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, are an integral part of why they work so well and are often beautiful, haunting and amusing. The music for Plastic Bag is supplied by Kjartan Sveinsson, a member of the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, and this is also a perfect fit.

The synopsis of Paper Bag is as follows

This short film by American director Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo) traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it. Along the way, it encounters strange creatures, experiences love in the sky, grieves the loss of its beloved maker, and tries to grasp its purpose in the world.

The short film can be watched in it’s entirety, embedded below and I’d love to know what you think so please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Craig is passionate about film and film criticism. Loving a wide range of films he is a keen film festival attendee, enjoying finding new and exciting films from film-makers across the world. Follow him on Twitter @cskinner.